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Occasional Paper

Modelling Census Under-Enumeration - A Logistic Regression Perspective

The Scottish 2001 Census - National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC)

The National Statistics socio-economic classification [NS-SeC] has been introduced by the government to replace social class based on occupation and socio-economic groups. It is an occupational based classification but has rules to provide coverage of the whole adult population. This classification is internationally accepted since it is based on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) employment definitions. It is also conceptually clear and has been validated both in criterion terms and in construction terms as a good predictor of health and educational outcomes (Office of National Statistics, 2002). The NS-SeC categories distinguish different positions (not persons) as defined by social relationships in the work place. People who are temporarily out of work can still be classified, so ‘unemployed’ in this case refers to people who have never worked or are long-term unemployed.

Figure 1.2.10 (19 Kb PDF file) provides figures on Occupation - based on the National Statistics socio-economic classification.

It is important to realise that the NS-SeC cannot solely explain what socio-economic differences mean. Like the Index of Deprivation, not everything can be explained by what a classification directly measures. However it can clearly show any relationships that exist. Fundamentally, it is of interest to determine if the different socio-economic categories have different relationships with the level of imputation.

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